Violet Dreams: Ultimate Rivalry
by Fei DMA Shanghanoo
Summary: Dr. Eggman hatches a plan with a mysterious hedgehog friend in order to create his own version of the ultimate lifeform. When things go wrong, just who is against who? Its an all out war and the next chapter in BoltStryke and Sonic's lives.
1. The Vision

Violet Dreams: Ultimate Rivalry  
  
By Fei DMA Shanghanoo  
  
Author's Notes: Lord knows what this would be called if I'd have kept to the series. The fact is, I managed to find every last inch of it, and am currently, piece by piece, very slowly over the course of time trying to put it back together again. I started with the latest instalment for totally unknown reasons: hell, maybe I'm trying to pull a Star Wars trip on ya'll (even though I've never watched the damn thing, I know what the movies series does in terms of time lapses) This in fact, is pretty much the fourth time that I've edited this before even getting far with it, because I'm hoping that it becomes successful. This, in fact, will be the last time. Enjoy!  
  
Credits: A special thank you to Sarah for inspiring me with this piece, and Yasmin, who always encourages me to go on. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Rouge, Fang the Sniper, Shadow the Hedgehog and Eggman are © SEGA, Angel Phoenix is © herself, BoltStryke, Liana, Demonis the Hedgehog, Oblivion, Bubbles, Sharika, Nina, Mika, Jamie and Azure are all © 1992-2002 Me. Partial credit to the sub-creators of Liana, Bubbles, Sharika, Nina, Mika, Jamie and Azure. Story concept is © 2002 BoltStryke.  
  
-Chapter One-  
  
The Vision  
  
It was an early morning like any other. The inky blue-black sky twinkled with a hundred million stars, and the moon- it's beauty shattered by the large crater that dented it- shone it's milky-white light upon the rooftops below. The streets were silent, save for a few birds twittering their sweet birdsong in the cold, December morning air. As time went on, the sky progressed from its darkness to shades of blue and washed pink and purple; the few brighter stars remaining in the sky. As each one twinkled in the beautiful morning sky, a bright pinkish-red star shot across the heavens, leaving a blazing bright purple streak as it moved, and disappeared in the twinkle of an eye, behind soft purple clouds.  
  
At that moment, a girl not so far away awoke in a cold sweat from her bed, letting out a startled scream as she felt a sharp pain like a hot knife through her head.  
  
As she looked around for solace, she panted heavily, trying to recollect the events in the dream that she had; it had seemed vivid to her at the time, but it seemed that trying to get her memories back was like trying to hold water cupped in her hands, for the longer that she tried to hold on to them, the more they slipped away through her fingers. Finally, as her sparkling violet eyes darted across the darkened room, all she could remember was a blazing red ball. a blazing red-hot comet, in fact.  
  
She swung her head towards the bedroom doors as she heard muffled footsteps run across the landing, coming her way. After a few seconds, the girl looked up to see her sister, standing in the doorway. Although extremely tired, her sister's face showed great concern for her younger sibling. Her violet eyes watched her little sister breathing rather heavily still, and let out a deep sigh. This was the fifth time this week that she has seen her sister like this, and it was beginning to frighten her.  
  
The girl, still dazed somewhat at the events that had blurred past her in her almost-forgotten dream, watched her yellow-haired sister walk up to her, and sit on the edge of the bed, her violet eyes twinkling with sadness. She raised her hand slowly, and reached out to brush away some of the bright pink hair from her little sister's eyes, and let out another sigh. A bead of sweat dripped from the pink-haired girl's nose, and finally fell onto the bed sheets, which absorbed every molecule into its depths.  
  
"It was another vision, wasn't it, Mika?" Her bigger sister asked, still brushing the hair away from her distressed sister's eyes.  
  
Mika gave a nod, a tore her gaze away from her sister's eyes. Her sister sighed once again, and removed her hand, and placed it on her own lap.  
  
".I'm worried about you." Mika's sister began, looking away from her and onto her lap. "You're the only one of the three of us who has the empowerment of foreseeing the future. The things you see in those visions really shouldn't be seen by someone of your age, because of their power. it's really changed you."  
  
The sisters, three in all, weren't like any other normal female hedgehogs. Each one of them were Elementresses- females who possess the power of a particular element. Each of the girls possessed the power of a different element, giving them different and various qualities. One possessed the power of Ice, one of Lightning and one of Fire. Mika inherited the most when she was born. Not only did she become an Elementress of Fire, she also inherited many of her mother's qualities. Like her mother, she could see many visions of the future through her dreams, and was also an empath- the ability to sense what another is feeling- although she hadn't quite mastered that technique just yet. Her sister, the Elementress of Lightning was tending to her now. The Elementress of Ice, and their brother, the Physicaté of Bug were away, and had been away for some time now.  
  
Physicaté were usually male, incapable of possessing elemental power but held physical ones instead Their smaller brother may possess a rare physical force, but he was too young and too inexperienced to harness or understand it, hence his leave to go out into the world and learn all about his technique.  
  
And right now, Mika was learning too. This was the first time in five years that she had felt such pain. And, as young as she was, she still remembered the flooding, waves and the destruction.  
  
Mika glanced up at her bigger sister with watery eyes. She remembered the weeks of pain that she has before that disaster. Could it all be happening again? Mika broke her gaze again as she felt her eyes well up with tears, still completely confused. She felt her tears fall upon the sheets, one after the other.  
  
"Nina." Mika sniffed quietly. ".I just don't know."  
  
"Shh." Nina replied, stroking her little sister's hair soothingly. "If you don't remember, then just don't concentrate so hard on it, and it'll come flowing back."  
  
"All I remember." She began, looking up at her sister now, her violet eyes glittering. "All I remember is this huge, blazing red comet. heading towards us and. everything was red. blood red. and then." She stopped, hanging her head and sobbing into her sister's arm.  
  
"It's alright, Mika." Nina said, hugging her tightly. Nina sighed to herself, as deep down she knew that everything wasn't all right at all. Although not Psychic or Empath nor Visionary, Nina felt some kind of unnatural disturbance within her thoughts, and within her powers.  
  
Being an Elementress of Lightning caused her to be a lot more in tune with nature than her sisters, and more in tune with people possessing the same type of power. On hearing what Mika had dreamed about, Nina decided it would be about time to talk with the only person she knew that had the same electrical connection that she possessed.  
  
Nina shook her head from her train of thoughts and watched her sister crying quietly in her arms. The only way to get her sister to remember any more of her dream was to get her back into her regular lifestyle. Nina smiled slightly and stroked her sniffling sister's hair.  
  
"Hey Mika, please don't cry." Nina said, smiling a little more as Mika looked back up at her. "I know it's hard, but you've got to try not to get too upset about this. how about." Nina paused to wipe some of Mika's tears away from her cheeks, slightly reddened from crying. "How about I make you something hot to drink and a bite to eat, hmm? Would you like that?"  
  
Mika sniffed harder, forcing a small smile for her sister, and nodded slowly. "Uh huh." She replied quietly.  
  
"Okay." Nina replied, kissing her sister's forehead once softly. "Now hurry up and put something warm over your nightie, I'll be downstairs in the kitchen." And with that, Nina slowly rose from the bed and made her way to the door.  
  
"Nina."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Thanks." Mika smiled, only this time it freely came to her lips.  
  
"No problem sweetheart." Nina replied, beaming. With that she turned again and left the room, heading towards the kitchen.  
  
As soon as Nina had left the room, Mika mustered up the strength to wipe her tears away, and jump from her bed. After smoothing over her bedsheets, she walked over to her dresser, stood by the window on the other end of the room.  
  
As she swung open her curtains, her room was at once bathed in a golden- yellow light from the newly risen sun. She smiled a little as she looked at the pinkish-purple sky, and the same golden light which filled her room adorned the rooftops and pavement, and caused the bare tree branches to glimmer. She gave a soft sigh, and turned to face the mirror in front of her.  
  
As she studied herself, a frown of disdain came across her face. 'I'm not like either of my sisters at all." She thought to herself.  
  
Mika had stunning glittering purple eyes, just like her other two sisters, but had long fuchsia pink hair, which trailed all the way down past her knees. She also had a large pink fringe, which she never cut. Which meant all that hair usually fell across her eyes, but she had gotten used to it over the years. As she rubbed the sleep from her eyes with one hand, she flicked her fingers skilfully across her fringe with the other. After doing so she pulled the rest of her long tresses into a ponytail, held together by her favourite large blue scrunchie. She sighed as he gazed at herself in the mirror, letting her hands drop to her sides, as she thought to herself that only her hair and her eyes were her only real assets. As she thought of this, she smiled as she remembered her crush, who she had only seen once or twice before, but she was very taken with him. Even after seeing him a few times, Mika knew at once that he'd never fall for her. Plus, she was too young, and he'd never look at her in the way she wanted him to, and he was probably into older girls, mature girls, girls with- She blew a stray lock of hair away from her face and wrinkled her nose as she ran her hands down her sides. She was sure at even thirteen like she was, her sisters had had some semblance of a figure, And her she was, hipless, tummyless and- as she sighed and flapped the collar of her nightie- chestless. She longed to wear flattering tops like her sisters, who both sported large chests and showed them off whenever they got the chance.  
  
"Maybe if I prayed to the stars just a little more." She muttered to herself as she took off her nightie and threw it on the floor. ".Then just maybe they'll give me a figure."  
  
She leaned over to pull open a drawer. Inside were a range of her fleece sweaters. She took a striped white and blue one out and pulled it over her head, making sure that the straps on her training bra didn't slip out of place. This sweater was particularly long, and fell past her knees. But she didn't mind at all. She simply slipped her feet into her fluffy blue slippers and took one last gaze at herself in the mirror.  
  
"Hmm." She thought out loud, giving a half-twirl to see herself. "Yep, warm enough. and nobody can see my knickers. okay!" And with a fleeting smile, she hurried off towards the kitchen.  
  
The smell of frying bacon met Mika's nostrils as she pushed the kitchen door open. Nina was at the stove, spatula in hand, flicking over another rasher of bacon. Mika's ears pricked up gently as she heard the strip sizzle gently in the pan of oil. She smiled at her sister briefly, and made her way to the breakfast bar, pulling herself up onto a stool, feeling the chill against her bare legs as the cold fabric touched them. Leaning over the counter, Mika rested her hands under her chin and crossed her legs, watching her sister busying herself about the kitchen.  
  
Nina had really big, yellow hair, which flicked up at the ends, just past her shoulders. She also had fairly large yellow, cat-like ears, which always stuck out from the top of her hair. She had big, violet eyes with big eyelashes, which glittered and flickered mysteriously as she blinked. She had a large chest, smallish hips, and really long legs. In short- as Mika could find no other words to describe her- a guy magnet. Nina's dark purple nightie swayed about her as she tended to the bacon, whilst simultaneously checking on the toast she'd recently placed in the toaster. Mika sighed, and longed once again to be like her sister. She was really popular, and had an electric personality to match her element of expertise.  
  
During Mika's track of thoughts, Nina presented a plate, containing two sandwiches, comprising of hot buttered toast, and hot rashers of bacon doused in plenty of tomato ketchup- just the way Mika liked it. As Mika smiled, Nina placed a mug of hot chocolate in front of her, with five marshmallows bobbing on the frothy surface.  
  
"Go on, eat up!" Nina said brightly, ruffling her sister's pink fringe as she walked away from the table.  
  
Mika smiled as she picked up a sandwich. "Aren't you going to eat anything?" She asked before taking a large mouthful of her breakfast.  
  
"Oh no! I couldn't!" Nina replied, walking towards the door. She smiled and elegantly placed a hand on her hip. "A girl's gotta watch her figure, you know!"  
  
Mika smirked between chews and chortled a little.  
  
"Besides!" Nina continued, opening the door of the kitchen. "I gotta make a call. Shall I put the radio on for you?"  
  
Mika smiled and nodded. Nina flicked the radio on, placed on top of the cabinet by the door, and disappeared with a quick twirl out into the passageway.  
  
Mika smiled and closed her eyes as she swallowed a bite of her sandwich and slipped at her hot chocolate. As she ate her favourite food and listened to her favourite song on the radio, the threat of impending doom seemed to be far, far away from her.  
  
As Nina walked into the living room, her smile faded. She knew things were serious, and this time she'd have to act fast. At times like this, she needed to call on the one person who knew how to help her, of the same element; as she summoned her powers, blue sparks of electricity began to crackle from the tips of her index and forefinger on her right hand.  
  
"BoltStryke the Hedgehog. can you hear me?"  
  
************  
  
The skies were a deep blue, melding into soft shades of pink and orange nearer the east, and the temperature was beginning to rise in the Desert.  
  
The area was totally silent, and everything lay still among the dusty ground, cracked and parched from water for several years. Despite the lack of fluid, rough grasses grew here and there, and wavered ever so slightly in the semblance of breeze that blew low across the sandy floor. Small, round stones lay dotted along the entire desert, almost perfect in terms of shape.  
  
The silence was beginning to be broken, however, and soft rumbles, like that of thunder rolling across the skies in the distance, shook the smallest particles of dust, and the smallest of pebbles on the desert floor. The sound grew closer, and the disturbance was becoming more and more clear as the sound grew increasingly louder by the nanosecond, shaking larger and larger stones and eventually the ground. Soon, and updraft blew across the field, blowing a dusty haze about the floor, and whipped the grasses into a swirling frenzy. The sound grew more intense, and, as quick as it had come, a purple and blue blur flashed across the area of the desert, and the sound grew quieter again, rolling away with the object into the distance. The trace of the object was clear, however, as the feint shimmers of heat wavered from the ground from where it had passed, and as peace was returning to that quiet spot, a loud explosion rocked the area, a dusty blast wave blowing more sand and grass into the air, which quickly lamed down into tiny wisps of dust, spiralling towards the ground, laying still once again.  
  
The blurs continued through the desert, in a uniformly straight line, blasting through anything in their way. A giant boulder exploded into two large fragments as the blurs past, ripping through the old relic as if it were paper. It crashed to the ground, spitting up large clouds of dust into the air, and the impact echoed around the vast, empty space, devoid of most basic signs of life, apart from these supersonic blurs, it seemed.  
  
As the blurs raced across the desert at a tremendous speed, one broke from high-speed, and leapt into the air, swerving his weight around instantaneously so that he flipped upside down in the air, running through a trail of golden rings that he had narrowly spotted. As he returned from his airborne state, he quickly returned his weight to his feet again, and skidded to a swift halt on the ground, his red and white shoes kicking up large amounts of dust as he did so. The other blur promptly skidded to a halt too, only taking a lot more time to stop than the first did, as he was moving a lot faster. Having stopped at quite a distance from his friend, he didn't move. He simply turned his head to glance back as the blue creature he was with stood still, examining a Gold ring which he was holding tightly in his right hand.  
  
It was almost apparent who it was; his bright green eyes shimmered in the low light, glinting slightly as the gold ring he was holding in his hand tilted to catch what light there was; red sneakers with the world-famous white stripe, with white trimmings, with gold and silver-plated grinding plates, wide, curious eyes, white gloves and the unmistakable swept-back, supersonic blue spikes which were growing longer and longer with age. This blue creature was the world-renowned hero, Sonic the Hedgehog.  
  
He examined the ring further as a small smile crept its way across his face. "Hmmm. I've collected heaps of these over the years. and yet, I've never looked into why and how they hold the powers they do."  
  
His friend nodded, acknowledging his comment, then folded his arms tightly and looked over to the mountainous region, which hid the slowly rising sun, in the eastern part of the desert. Sonic spun the ring on his finger, and then looked over curiously in his friend's direction.  
  
"Hey, is something troubling you, buddy?" he asked, walking a little closer. His friend glanced over his shoulder for a split second, and then looked away again. "Well." He began. His voice was much deeper than Sonic's, more mature, almost. "It feels as if someone is trying to get in contact with me. but the signal's weak."  
  
Sonic tilted his head to one side and raised an eyebrow, as if he was not sure that he quite understood what his friend meant. "Get in contact with you? How?"  
  
Sonic's purple friend glanced over his shoulder again, and then turned to face him. "For years I've possessed an almost psychic power, due to my connection with the element of electricity. It enables me to get in contact with others who possess the same power as I do. It was something I was born with. something I can't explain." He looked from the floor to Sonic, who nodded sympathetically.  
  
"Heh. I guess that's what being BoltStryke the Hedgehog is all about. There are lots of things about me that I don't know. Stuff I wish I knew."  
  
The purple Hedgehog unfolded his arms and clenched his fists tightly, which were adorned with fingerless black leather gloves, which had a circular yellow gem on the back of each glove, with a lightning Bolt carved into it. Around each wrist was a blue bracelet, and a green bracelet, called Dynamis rings. These rings helped BoltStryke to harness his powers and keep them from overpowering his, causing him to overload.  
  
His eyes were a mysterious colour; almost golden in colour, but melded into almost brown near the tops of his eyes, rendering his eye colour near impossible to describe. His eyes always sparkled intensely, glittering with mystery; Even more so when he was smaller, but the twinkle had diminished in his later years.  
  
Three locks of purple hair, which grew in the middle of his forehead, fell across his eyes. He also had two longer locks of hair on the left side of his face, covering just a small portion of his left eye. His spikes weren't like Sonic's; Only in the likeness that he had two down turned spikes down the middle-back oh his head, but the two on either side of his head grew upright, a lot like Shadow's, only BoltStryke's were slightly shorter and a more free-flowing in shape. His tail was a lot more differently shaped too, and had now curled and tightened itself into a Lightning bolt shape. He wore electric blue Air sneakers on his feet, lined with a Bolt gem on the sole and hell of each foot. His shoes also came equipped with rocket boosters, which his close friend, Denise the Fox had developed for him. On each shoe, a golden lightning bolt motif had carefully been embroidered on, and the air bubbles on his shoes were a bright, electric yellow. BoltStryke did indeed look like the sheer electrical and Chaos power that he possessed. Outgoing and friendly-sounded when need be, but also one formidable Hedgehog.  
  
BoltStryke was a year younger than Sonic, but when it came to things such as battle; BoltStryke was a lot more experienced. How BoltStryke emerged from the Master Emerald is a mystery, but that's how it happened, and in being born in this way, the sheer powers of Chaos energy were instilled within him, making him a near-unstoppable power. BoltStryke could transform into many more powerful forms, and use a lot more Chaos-fuelled attacks than Sonic could.  
  
BoltStryke decided to help out Sonic by helping his to learn more Chaos attacks, but in order to do so, Sonic needed to train hard in his spare time. And now it seemed that vacation time was no more, as it had become training time. Sonic didn't mind however, as growing older had made him more serious in becoming more powerful than he was now in his current state. His change in attitude came out after the recent disaster, when Shadow, a Hedgehog they all barely got to know, died trying to save Earth. Since then Sonic was determined on becoming powerful, striving to become 'The Ultimate Lifeform' Like Shadow had mentioned.  
  
".I need to concentrate in order to receive the telepathic message that someone is trying to give to me." BoltStryke paused as he looked around, and spotted the dark shapes of large rocks not so far from them. "I'll be over there." He said finally, gesturing to the rocks on his right side. "If Tails comes this way, be sure to notify me." Sonic nodded, and with that, BoltStryke walked slowly over to the large rocks, about fifteen to twenty feet in height. He looked up to the very summit of the rocks, watching the dark blue skies also, the bright stars twinkling in their depths. Looking past the summit, he noticed the sky getting lighter, melding gently into a brighter shade of blue.  
  
He looked down once again, and bent his knees, looking down at the floor. And in a split second, he placed enough power in his legs to spring up past the summit of the rock, and landed neatly on the very top of the largest one. He sighed a little as he eased himself down to sit on the rocky surface, and watched the sky over the horizon in the east, a thin line of gold appearing just over the rocky mountains, melding into brighter shades of pink, orange and yellow.  
  
He blocked the imagery from his mind as he closed his eyes, and began to think deeply, trying to pinpoint the location in his head where he had felt the strange sensation coming from. He urged his thinking track deeper in his mind, wanting to find it fast, before it slipped away from him.  
  
Suddenly, it came to him like a rush of heat, which startled him slightly, but he kept his eyes closed nonetheless. The heat seemed to swirl about his head to the very top of his brain, and it wasn't before long that he could begin to see the swirling, mysterious mass of red and orange liquid spiralling to the very hilt of his brain. Soon the swirling mass ebbed away slowly back into the depths of his mind to form a glittering blob, which soon rose up and melded into shape, beginning to form a three-dimensional face. The liquid began to change colour slowly, slowly fading into shades that made up features of a suddenly familiar face. BoltStryke raised his eyebrows in surprise as the face had finished forming and had opened its eyes, looking right at him.  
  
The face at once twitched into a slightly annoyed expression. "BoltStryke, what took you so long?" The voice echoed about his head, and BoltStryke shuddered slightly. It was such a weird sensation to behold, but he had to get to grips with the situation, and fast.  
  
"Sorry, I'm just not used to this. I've only done it once before, Nina." He spoke aloud, not quite remembering how it was done the first time around. He had clearly got it right though, as Nina's facial expression changed to a more understanding look. Comfortable that Nina could hear him clearly, BoltStryke spoke again. "Long time no see, by the way."  
  
"Yeah, it's been a while." Nina said, chuckling slightly. "Anyways, I can't talk for too long, as Mika will become suspicious as to why I'm here for so long, and might hear us talking. I bring news, BoltStryke."  
  
The purple hedgehog's ears pricked up at those words, and furrowed his eyebrows. "News? What kind of news?"  
  
"It's my sister." Nina began, her face saddening as she remembered the events that had happened over fifteen minutes ago. "She's had another vision."  
  
BoltStryke's eyebrows furrowed further, and tilted his head to one side slightly. "What kind of vision, Nina? A bad one?"  
  
Nina nodded slowly, biting her lower lip gently as she gazed at the floor. "Afraid so. she talks of a giant red comet, blazing red in colour and heading towards Earth, and everything around her was red." She trailed off again, looking back at BoltStryke. ".That look in her eyes, Bolt. I can't forget that look, it was that fearful look that she had the last time she had a vision when-"  
  
"Station Square.?" BoltStryke said softly, breaking in. Nina nodded solemnly. BoltStryke relaxed a little and sighed, thinking of some sort of an answer. After a long pause, he spoke. "I don't know what to make of all this. Surely something can't be coming our way again? First Chaos, then the ARK and now. this?"  
  
Nina sighed too, and looked up at the ceiling (And in Bolt's mind, this was just darkness) "Exactly. we need to keep our guard up, BoltStryke. we don't know what might happen."  
  
BoltStryke nodded. "Yeah. I'm still not sure what to do, but I'm going to try to pop around soon so that I can see Mika myself. I need her to describe to me what she's seen, so I can better see how I can go about setting things right before they go horribly, horribly wrong." BoltStryke let out a long sigh and looked at his friend. "In the meantime, just keep her happy. Try to keep her mind off her vision until I get there."  
  
Nina smiled, encouraged by her friend's reassurance. "Okay. Well, I'll be seeing you then."  
  
BoltStryke nodded and smiled slightly. "Okay. See you soon. Take care of yourself, okay?"  
  
Nina nodded. "You too. See you." And with that, her face faded into the fiery ball of liquid, and swirled away and out of sight. As it gushed away from his mind, the heat slowly drifted away too. With that, BoltStryke opened his eyes, squinting just a little as the light flooded into them. He could see that most of the dark blues of the night were fading away fast, and it's only remains were midnight blue clouds against a golden-yellow sky, fading into pastel shades of pink.  
  
His expression remained serious as he tucked his feet underneath him and gently eased himself up onto his feet. As he looked around, he noticed Sonic stretching his leg muscles, pulling the tip of his foot toward him with his hand, his leg outstretched, alternating between each foot. BoltStryke leapt from the rock quickly, letting himself fall to the floor, and braced his impact by bending his knees as his feet hit the floor.  
  
At the sound of his feet falling on the hard earth, Sonic stopped what he was doing, and looked around. "So, what was it?" he asked fairly brightly, shaking his legs from his exercise.  
  
BoltStryke raised his hands in order to crack his knuckles, walking towards his blue friend. "Nina. She had news. not very good news, in fact."  
  
Sonic stopped all activity and watched his friend's solemn face. "What's wrong, dude?" He asked softly, walking closer.  
  
BoltStryke let his hands drop to his sides and looked into Sonic's green eyes. "A vision. And we may be in danger." He paused. "What was that?" BoltStryke looked up into the air and around him, and Sonic followed suit.  
  
The air slowly became filled with a soft, mechanical whirring sound, which reverberated around the rocks and within each blemish and crack on each inch of ground and rock. As BoltStryke looked directly above him, he noticed a dark silhouette, which was barely visible against the dark blue clouds that surrounded it. It was coming closer, and as it did, two small, bright blue twinkles appear, looking like afterburners somewhat. And, as it descended upon them, BoltStryke and Sonic realised that's exactly what they were.  
  
As the clouds in the sky shifted, a ray of rising sunlight caught the mysterious shape, and at once the ray reflected the detail of the craft for all to see.  
  
The craft was now no more than thirty feet from the ground now; supersonic blue in colour, blue afterburners blazing away beneath each foot of it. The blue craft was trimmed with yellow, and on the side, a drawing of two orange tails with white tips, and the name 'Tornado III' painted in white on the side. Not particularly in a professional style, but more in the style of a thirteen year old.  
  
As the sun glittered off the seemingly newly polished craft, its afterburners blew stray particles of dust into clouds that just drifted off the surface of the hard plain, and billowed outwards as the Tornado III began landed rather clumsily on the hard earth. The fox removed his goggles, gently sliding then on top of his head, and glanced at both hedgehogs, before giving a brief salute. BoltStryke stepped back as the orange two-tailed fox clambered out of his machine, and smiled up at BoltStryke. Sonic walked around the Tornado to join them.  
  
"I take it you didn't find anything?" The purple hedgehog said after a long silence. The fox shook his head, and gave a slight sigh.  
  
"I've been scanning a wide area for hours, and there's still no sign of the Chaos Emeralds. Though I have a strange feeling that we might have to search farther than these islands."  
  
"How come, Tails?" Sonic asked, scratching his chin.  
  
"Well." Tails began, kicking against the ground gently "When the reaction happened in the chamber of the ARK, the Chaos Emeralds must have dispelled over a wide area. Some of them may even be in outer space. Just floating around. I figure that we might have to perform a worldwide search rather than just a regional one, to ensure that the emeralds are still around."  
  
BoltStryke nodded approvingly, and glanced over in Sonic's direction, who gave a slight shrug "Well, whatever's necessary. As long as we can retrieve some of the Chaos emeralds, not that much harm can come to the world again, right?"  
  
"Right." BoltStryke agreed, walking away from the two as he thought deeply, looking down at the dusty earth as he paced slowly. "And who knows, what with the news that I just received, it's just as well that we're looking for them. We don't know what's out there to harm us at the moment." The hedgehog stopped and glanced back at Tails, who looked back at him curiously. "Tails, Sonic, we need to get back to the base. I have to explain to the gang just exactly what I was told just now." The fox blinked, slightly confused. "What were you told.?"  
  
BoltStryke bit his lip gently, and then shrugged a little. "I guess it's easier for me to explain to you all at once when we get there." he stopped as he stretched his arms over his head, interlocking his fingers as he cracked his knuckles, then hopped on the spot. "I don't know about you, Sonic, but I'm up for a little more exercise." He smirked over at him. "Up for it?"  
  
The Blue hedgehog nodded and smiled in return. "Sure! I'm ready!" Tails took this as a signal to jump back into the Tornado III, and at once fired up its thrusters, ready to take off. As the fox warmed up his machine, the two had already darted off into the distance, trails of swirling dust clouds behind them. The ground seemed to tremble slightly as the raced away, and in the distance, the shattering echoes of a double sonic boom could be heard, reverberating around every canyon for miles around. 


	2. Knuckles' Discovery

-Chapter Two-  
  
Knuckles' Discovery  
  
Approximately over fifty miles away, in the more mountainous, western part of the desert, the early morning rays of the golden sun broke through every nook and cranny in the valley. Bringing the ancient rocks to life with light. The sparsely grown desert grasses and flowers swayed gently in the soft breeze, and old, rustic grind rails lay still in the sands, ancient inscriptions and pictures carved into them. And above the tallest mountains, the faces of pumpkins could be seen, the golden sunlight illuminating each one. The sky was now a misty blue, sinking into deeper shades further west, but it was apparent that the night was drawing away, and a new day was finally here.  
  
A small patch of ground broke into fragments as two sharp, metallic implements driven by a fist ploughed into it at a tremendous speed. Another fist followed, just above the other, and the 'fangs' pierced deep into the earth. The creature to whom these fists belonged to hoisted himself up, making sure that his footing was correct before he leant back, and drew his right fist out of the cliff's sidewall. Using his left fist as an anchor, he slammed his right fist hard into the cliff again, causing the whole thing to tremble. A pink-haired girl standing a top the cliff screamed with shock as the cliff trembled violently beneath her feet. Shocked somewhat at the startled noise, the indigo-eyed Echidna glanced up to the top of the cliff, drawing his right fist out of the earth to shield his eyes from the sunlight. He noticed jade green eyes glaring back at him.  
  
"Knuckles! Careful with the digging!" She exclaimed, flicking her head back as she simultaneously removed her red headband, brushing her quills back firmly before replacing it back on her head once again.  
  
"Sorry." The red Echidna replied. "It's just this part of the cliff. The rock here's pretty tough even with my Shovel claws on." The Echidna remembered someone at that point, and frowned angrily, turning his head towards the bottom of the cliff. "Espio! Mighty! I thought you guys said you were gonna help!"  
  
The purple Chameleon waved his right hand dismissively, his yellow horn gleaming in the sunlight. "Hey take it easy! We've got all day to look for Chaos Ore, you know."  
  
"Maybe you've got all day." Knuckles retorted. "But I'd like to get this done. If you recall rightly I do have a job guarding the Master Emerald you know, and right now, it's been left in the hands of Charmy!" The two figures shuddered at the bottom of the cliff at that thought. Amy followed suit.  
  
Charmy was not only incredibly annoying, but he was also very small and very little powers to protect the Master Emerald with, so leaving the master Emerald guard duty in his hands was a very risky business indeed.  
  
"Sheesh." Mighty sighed, walking towards the foot of the cliff and grabbing the first rock that jutted out sharply in front of him. "I'm coming, Knux." And with that, he leapt up, using his hand, which held onto the cliff to hoist his body weight upward. Within a few hops, he was at Knuckles' height. After reaching that point, he glanced up at Amy. "You might wanna get down from there, 'cause this is gonna get pretty rough!" He gave a slight roguish grin and curled his right hand up into a fist. The pink Hedgehog blinked, and gave a nervous smile. "Okay." She quickly replied, and walked away from the cliff's edge, walking around the other end to meet the foot of the cliff, next to Espio.  
  
"Let's get this show on the road!" Mighty yelled, grinning. And in unison, Knuckles and Mighty pounded their fists hard into the cliff wall, large fragments of rock and dirt flying off the sidewall. They kept at it, pounding harder and harder at the cliff, breaking a large hole into it. Clouds of dust billowed over them and sailed into the air as the shattering and crashing sounds filled the valleys all around them. More rocks and boulders fell, and after a few minutes, the pounding stopped. The dust particles slowly began to clear into the morning air, and as they sailed away, Knuckles and Mighty could be seen standing on the ledge that they had created from digging deep into the cliff wall. Knuckles chuckled a little at their own work, and then signalled to Espio, who nodded in return then walked behind Amy, where a duffle bag stood amongst the rocks. Unzipping it, he reached his hand into it and pulled out a black, spherical object, with a timer set in the top, and a large, grey segmented ring around the middle of it. After standing up and inspecting the object for some time, he tossed the object up into the air towards Mighty, who caught it accurately in his hand. Mighty smiled, and passed the object on to Knuckles, who looked at it carefully.  
  
"Do you think this'll do the trick?" Mighty asked hopefully.  
  
"Looks like it'll pack enough punch." Knuckles replied, pressing some buttons around the timer. As he set it, it gave a beep. Reacting quickly, Knuckles placed the object into the gaping hole they created. At that, he turned away quickly and leapt off the ledge, and Mighty followed suit. As they landed, Knuckles and Mighty ran towards Espio and Amy. The purple chameleon grabbed the duffle bag and hooked his free arm into Amy's, dragging her away, completely oblivious to the situation at hand before she realised why she was being dragged. The object beeped again, then twice, then several times in succession until all that could be heard was a dull tone. The four ducked instantaneously behind the nearest boulder that could shield them all.  
  
'KABOOOOM!'  
  
Rocks, boulders and dust flew in every direction as the valley rocked and shook beneath them in the aftermath of the explosion. The four closed their eyes tight, raising their hands above their heads as smaller rocks rained down on them, followed by tiny shards of a glistening, green substance, which looked similar to diamond in the crystalline way that they were structured. After the explosion was over, the four opened their eyes and shook themselves from most of the dust that had fallen upon them. Knuckles slowly stood up and peered over the rock, looking at the effects of what their bomb had done.  
  
The foot of the cliff, the top of the cliff and the ledge which they had created were not distinguishable at all, as the effects of the bomb had blasted a huge crater, which gouged out the entire cliff front. Knuckles blinked in disbelief as Mighty, Espio and Amy stood up and watched also.  
  
"Maybe. It was a little too much punch." Mighty said finally, scratching his shiny red shell.  
  
Knuckles raised an eyebrow. "Just a little?" Mighty shrugged and gave a nervous laugh.  
  
Amy, Espio and Mighty looked on as Knuckles walked around the rock, which they had been hiding behind, and walked towards the gaping hole, which he had helped create. He walked into the deepest part of the hole, and gently used his knuckles to grind at the rock gently. As he did, large green crystal deposits fell out of the rock.  
  
"All right!" he exclaimed, smiling. "Guys! We got some!"  
  
"Cool!" Espio replied, clutching the empty duffle bag. "Now we just need to fill this big thing with that ore, then we can get out of here." He glanced over at Amy. "You got your hammer?"  
  
Gently undoing the necklace, which hung around her neck, Amy removed the pendant from it, and made sure her necklace was fastened again before she tapped the miniscule button on the pendant. It gently sparkled in her hand, and she readied herself, her hand in the correct fashion to hold something larger than what the pendant should be. In a split second, it happened. In a flash of bright white light, the pendant instantaneously grew into her famous yellow and red Pico Pico Hammer. The slightly dusty pink Hedgehog smiled, and swung the hammer in front of her. "Let's get this over with! I had no idea that this job entailed the messing up of my hair! Now I need a shower!"  
  
Knuckles quietly tutted and rolled his eyes as he once again began grinding his fist into the rock, more and more Chaos ore falling onto the ground below his feet. Not only were green crystals falling out of the rock, but other colours were falling out as well. A plethora of red, yellow, green, purple and the odd blue ore fell around him. Espio began collecting the ore as Mighty and Amy got to work. After a few minutes hammering away at the crater, the bag was soon filled. Satisfied, Espio zipped up the bag, and then turned to his friends, who were still quite busy with their hammering.  
  
"Okay guys! I think that we've got all we need! It'll take us all day to turn these into Chaos Drives as it is." Espio called, swinging the back over his shoulder and onto his back. Amy smiled and minimised her hammer, pleased wither work. Mighty dusted off his gloves and Knuckles simply leant against the wall of the crater, and crossed his arms.  
  
"Well that took a lot less longer than the last time." Knuckles replied. "Now that Eggman's robots are through, mining for Chaos ore is the only way to get our machines to work, rather than just using his."  
  
"Yup!" Said Espio brightly, tossing a spare hunk of Chaos ore in his free hand. "And our version of the Chaos Drive seems to be a lot more powerful. It might have something to do with where we mine. And this place is pretty rich with Chaos Ore!"  
  
"Ground's oozing with the stuff." Mighty added, tapping his foot against the ground.  
  
"Alright guys!" Amy said brightly. "I'm not sure about you guys, but I'd very much like to get back to the base!"  
  
"True." Knuckles agreed. "Let's get outta here." Espio and Mighty nodded, and began walking towards the path that led out of the valleys, and towards the lush greener hills in the west. Knuckles smiled and uncrossed his arms, pushing back into the crater behind him to lift himself more upright. But as he did so, he felt something flat and smooth underneath his palm, somewhat buried in the soft rock. He frowned, and turned around to inspect the object.  
  
"Guys! Wait a minute! I think I found something." he called back as he used his knuckles to brush away the soft earth. There, staring back at him was a panel of smooth, flat rock. Frowning more, he pushed at the panel, pressed it, and then stared at it again. As he continued his inspection, Amy, Espio and Mighty surrounded him. Mighty wrinkled his nose as he looked at the panel of rock.  
  
"What do you think it could be?" he asked, leaning closer to get a better look at the object.  
  
"No idea." Knuckles replied, trailing off somewhat. He brushed around a little more, and around the panel slightly. Feeling something above the top of it, he brushed more vigorously to reveal a metallic panel with red lettering clearly inscribed onto it.  
  
'Flip for emergency uncharted entrance shaft button. Use with caution.' "Let's see now." The Echidna murmured. And at that, he gripped the bottom of the smooth stone panel, and gently lifted it. This revealed more of the metallic panel beneath it, with a large red switch set in the middle. Knuckles frowned. "What's something like this doing buried deep in the rock?" He asked, scratching his chin.  
  
Amy shook her head. "No idea. But who could it belong to?" She leaned closer herself, reaching out a curious hand to brush more of the metallic warning panel at the top. They all gasped in unison as the familiar 'G' emblem came into view.  
  
Espio nodded after a while and bit his lower lip "Mmm. Makes sense. Well, it was either them, or Eggman, true?"  
  
"Yeah, true." Mighty agreed. "But I thought that all military entrances were scanned in case of intruders. Why would there be an uncharted military entrance in the middle of nowhere, with one of the only seemingly outside switches buried deep in a cliff wall?"  
  
"In case they wanted to hide something that they didn't want anyone to know about." Amy said quietly. The remaining three turned to look at her, and nodded in approval. They then all turned their attentions once again to the bright red switch in front of them.  
  
Then there was a pause. A pause consisting of blinking and deep thought. A vulture silently flew overhead, then disappeared over the horizon.  
  
"Shaaaall we press?" Mighty asked hopefully, raising his right fist up to his mouth. "I'm kinda curious to know what's down there myself."  
  
"As am I." Knuckles interjected.  
  
"Me too." Amy and Espio replied in unison. The four of them exchanged looks, then glanced at the switch again. Knuckles frowned and shook his head violently somewhat.  
  
"Oh what the hell." He replied, and reached his hand forward to press the button. Amy bit her lip anxiously. Mighty and Espio readied themselves for action. Knuckles' hand edged ever closer, within millimetres of the switch. Knuckles usually acted coolly in situations such as these, but for some reason he found this moment to be somewhat intense. He reached forward still, gently beginning to apply pressure to the button.  
  
Two explosions echoed around the valleys, one after the other. They sounded close. Knuckles jerked his hand back as he heard something approaching at an incredible velocity. Their attentions were turned to the top of the cliff.  
  
The four shielded their eyes from the dust that fell upon them as two blurs leapt off the cliff front and jumped down to meet them, landing just a short distance from them. They both turned at the same time, dusting themselves off. Amy smiled widely as the familiar blue hedgehog came her way. Sonic gave her a knowing look and a short wink before looking at the rest of the ground. BoltStryke walked towards Knuckles, and they both exchanged nods and handshakes before the hedgehog duo stepped back. Knuckles frowned slightly as he noticed the look on BoltStryke's face, and then turned to Sonic, who look exactly the same way. The whirring noises of Tails' Tornado could be heard landing just short distance from them as they spoke, followed by and abrupt clanging noise.  
  
"BoltStryke. Sonic. What's up?" Knuckles asked. BoltStryke gave a slight sigh, looking at each and every one of them. "Guys, Sonic and I have something important to tell you."  
  
Knuckles and the gang gave a slight nod before Mighty spoke, crossing his arms. "Which is the funny thing, Bolt, because Knuckles, Espio, Amy and I have something quite interesting to show you."  
  
BoltStryke crossed his arms and watched the switch intensely. "Interesting find." he murmured. Knuckles waited, as he wasn't quite sure if BoltStryke had intended that as sarcasm or not. It was always hard to tell with him. The violet hedgehog looked up the length and breadth of the cliff's crater, and then craned his neck to see the very top of it. After walking slightly closer, he surprised the group by leaping high into the air, tucking his arms and legs into his body so that he formed a tight ball. After reaching high enough, he assumed his landing position, and neatly dropped down onto the very tip of the cliff. Sonic scratched his head in confusion, watching BoltStryke pace the cliff, and then kneel down, using his hands to trace along the rock surface of the cliff. On finding something, he frowned, and jumped back onto his feet again. "Okay. Now I think I know why the switch is that deep down." He said, looking down on the gang. He began to move his head slowly, looking from the left of the cliff to the rightmost part of it. "Mighty, could you please follow me? I think I've found something."  
  
"Sure thing." The Armadillo replied, running towards the rocky cliff face. Using a small rock as a foothold, he pushed against it, and used it to leap high into the air, and landed cleanly next to BoltStryke. The two nodded in unison, then BoltStryke led the way, walking the red and black Armadillo to the very rightmost part of the cliff.  
  
It went on for about another 100 metres, and then a high wall of rock shielded part of the cliff. Fairly thin in thickness, but high and sharp nonetheless. They both jumped down the other side of the high wall, as the other waited, anxious to find out what it was that BoltStryke had discovered.  
  
Amy glanced over nervously at Sonic, then bit her lip, wanting to say something but without annoying him. Sonic and Amy hadn't spoken much since the ARK incident, but it was nearly apparent to everyone that Sonic's feelings for her were stronger than he was letting on, but no one was entirely sure about that. It was sometimes hard to predict Sonic, and this was the trouble that she was having now. Deciding that this wasn't the right time, she turned her glance to Tails, who was already aware that she had been staring at the blue hedgehog for some time. They exchanged looks and shrugged, and jumped suddenly as a feint rumbling noise interrupted the silence. Everyone jerked their heads towards the direction of the cliff at the sound.  
  
Surely enough, the very front of the cliff started to move.  
  
Sounds of energetic pushing, slamming and shoving against the cliff wall could be heard as it jerked and bumped forward with every violent pounding it received.  
  
"Ready?" came BoltStryke's voice from the other side of the wall, obviously talking to Mighty. "Three. Two. One. Go!"  
  
The gang jumped again as the moving cliff wall shook with an almighty thudding noise, and jerked forward several feet, slamming into some stray boulders, shattering the edge of the cliff. Mighty and BoltStryke stumbled forward, having exerted a lot of force against the cliff for it to move at such a speed. Picking himself off the ground, Mighty dusted himself off, then glowered at the wall.  
  
"That was a pretty tough one to move. But now we know why it's so deep down." He growled, straightening his gloves.  
  
"And I take it that panel you guys revealed is the entrance to the shaft, right?" Amy added, pointing in the direction of the switch. Everyone swung their heads around instantly to look.  
  
Sure enough, to the right of the panel, which beforehand had been shielded by the heavy rock wall was a much larger panel, it's door made up of two large sheets of metal, which looked as if they'd slide apart in order to open the shaft.  
  
BoltStryke walked over to the switch, and without a second thought, pressed it. The button remained depressed as the doors slowly slid open without making a sound. A slight hiss was heard as the metal sheets slid back fully, and the short click of a button as the depressed button popped back out into its regular position once again. Everyone stepped forward as a gaping black hole was revealed to them. After some time, BoltStryke looked inside, and glanced down. After a few minutes analysis, he gave a slight sigh, then turned to everyone else.  
  
"By the looks of things, not all of us can go down there at once. It's obvious anyway. Seeing as we don't what's down there, we can't all risk getting caught." he trailed off, glancing at everyone. At this point, Tails' curiosity beat him, and he hopped over to the shaft to have a look. BoltStryke continued. ".And it looks like a long way down. I can see a green light at the end, but it looks quite feint."  
  
"I can see it." Tails said quietly, aware that the metallic properties of the shaft would cause his voice to echo. He promptly removed his head from the shaft. "Bolt, I think you and Sonic should go down there. You're both capable of doing this, and I can always keep track of your progress and position with the radios I gave you."  
  
BoltStryke nodded. "True. And it wouldn't be a problem for either of us getting back up the shaft again, what with the new hovering capabilities that Denise installed on both our shoes."  
  
"I must admit, they are pretty nifty." Sonic added, smiling. "Well I know I'm ready for whatever's down there. It's not like I can't handle whatever the military can throw at me. And if I'm capable, I sure know that BoltStryke could take 'em all on!" In his usual energetic manner, he walked quickly towards the shaft. BoltStryke smiled and crossed his arms, glancing at Tails.  
  
"Take everyone else back to base, track us from there." He said, giving him a knowing wink.  
  
The orange fox smiled and saluted him, causing BoltStryke to chuckle slightly. "Right!" At that, Mighty, Knuckles, Espio and Amy turned away and headed towards the path once again. After a few paces, Amy couldn't help but glance back.  
  
"Be careful guys." She said quietly, then turned her head once again, and quickened her pace to keep up with the rest of the group. As BoltStryke and Sonic looked at the shaft, the whirring and humming of Tails' Tornado thrusters could be heard lifting off the ground slowly but surely, then hovered away into the distance.  
  
Sonic took on a more serious disposition as the now feint whirring of the Tornado's engines disappeared into the day. "Well, it's been a fairly eventful day so far, and we haven't even told them what we wanted to."  
  
BoltStryke curled his right hand into a tight fist, and gave a sigh. "I guess there'll be time for that later. But right now it looks as if today's about to become a little more eventful." He rested his hand against the wall of the cliff as he peered inside. After a while, he leapt up slightly, swinging his legs into the shaft, and sat on the thin metallic ledge of it, still holding the cliff wall with his hands, to prevent himself from sliding in. "Well. Here we go." And after a moment's hesitance, he let go of the sides of the wall, and let himself drop in. After waiting a few seconds to allow BoltStryke time to fall, Sonic swung himself in too, and began his decent to the bottom of the shaft.  
  
The drop was indeed a fairly long one, and as he saw the very bottom of the shaft come up to meet him, BoltStryke at once tucked his knees into his body in order to reach the buttons on the back on each of his shoes. In an instant, two bright blue flames flashed and flickered into life, rapidly slowing his decent. As he touched the ground, he noticed that Sonic was performing the same procedure as he was just above him, and promptly moved out of the way for him to land. Shutting off his hover boosters just inches before he reached the ground, Sonic landed cleanly next to the purple hedgehog.  
  
They stood in front of a large grate of metal, which closed up the shaft, but from this vantage point, they could see a lot of the room which they had entered into, despite the fact that the grate seemed to be partially covered by an old wooden table covered by an equally old and torn white tablecloth. It was a dark room, only lit by a few lights, which were green and yellow in colour. There were an array of computers on the far end of the wall, which were all active, and it was clear that they were still in use as to the left of the computers stood two large printers, which looked as if they had been printing reams of data for quite a while, as rolls of paper buckled and folded over each other several times over as the printers continued their work.  
  
BoltStryke strained his neck to see the other side of the room. That far corner was filled with various computers and other mysterious equipment. Bu the most interesting point of the room was a large ring in the very center of the room. Dark grey in colour, welded to the floor. And in the center, four segments of metal interlocked with each other and looked as if they'd slide apart to open up something underneath the floor.  
  
Sonic gave a frown, simultaneously wrinkling his nose. "What is this place?" BoltStryke glanced around the room from side to side, remaining vigilant. "I'm not sure. But it looks kinda creepy to me. And, it looks like it's totally separate from the usual military base- Hundreds of miles from it, in fact. Apparently they still use Prison Island."  
  
"Do you think it might be something to do with the fact that this place is rich with Chaos Ore, or the fact that this place is in the middle of nowhere?" Sonic asked, turning to look at him.  
  
BoltStryke grasped at the grate, giving it a slight shake. Luckily enough, it seemed to be slightly loose. "I'm not sure Sonic, but for some reason, I have a feeling that it might be for the latter reason."  
  
BoltStryke's communicator, just under his green Dynamis ring on his left hand, crackled into life. "Bolt? Sonic? This is Espio. Just to let you know that we've arrived back at the base and the Ore is about to be processed to form more Chaos Drives. Any news on that shaft?"  
  
BoltStryke lifted his left arm fairly close to his mouth. "The shaft led us to a room full of computers. There's something in the middle, but I'm not sure what it is yet." BoltStryke stopped and gave the room another glance around. "By the way, make sure that you replace all the Chaos Drives in the core of the Floating Island. The backup system needs it's drives replacing constantly now that we don't know where the emeralds are."  
  
"Gotcha. I'll make sure that Knuckles changes them right away. I'd tell him now but. Eheh. he's having a go at Charmy. Let's just say he caused some fairly serious damage when kicking a football around."  
  
Sonic jumped and leant close to Bolt's communicator at once. "You don't mean to tell me he's broken the Master Emerald with a football, do you?" He hissed.  
  
"Well yeah." Espio chuckled. "Luckily it just a few pieces that flew off, but Knuckles is still pissed all the same, considering the trouble he had to go through the last time." Feint crashing noises and cursing in a deep voice could be heard coming from behind Espio, and after a few seconds commotion, he spoke again. "Erm. There's a little spot of trouble over here, so I've gotta go. Tails'll get in touch with you guys soon. Take care."  
  
The communicator fell silent, and BoltStryke and Sonic exchanged looks. After a while, their attentions were turned once again to the room.  
  
"So, what do you think we should do?" Sonic asked, leaning close to the grate.  
  
"I think we should look around if we get the chance." BoltStryke said, tugging slightly at the metal grate a little more, noticing that it was increasingly becoming loose. "But we have to remain cautious."  
  
As soon as those words left the purple Hedgehog's lips, a whirring noise came from the far end of the room. BoltStryke and Sonic remained close to the grate, but pressed themselves on either side of the shaft, watching as what seemingly was a wall slide away. The corridor behind them was just as low lit, and fairly misty. Two figures stood in the doorway. But it was clear that one of them wasn't human.  
  
It was a hedgehog. "What the hell?" Sonic whispered lowly to BoltStryke. "I think I know who the human is, but who the heck is the hedgehog?"  
  
BoltStryke glowered, his golden eyes glistening gently, keeping his eyes focussed on the two figures. "I think. I know." He whispered. Sonic raised his eyebrows, but decided against responding. He turned his gaze on the figures. The human and the hedgehog stepped into the room as the door slid closed. And parted ways, the hedgehog walking towards the center of the room, and the human, seemingly a very large man, walked towards the printers. He leant down and picked up the reams of paper in front of him, and searched for the top, and began to read. The overly large man scratched his head as he sifted through the paper.  
  
"Hmm." Came the large human's voice, deep in tone. The man reached his free hand up to twiddle his moustache. "It looks as if he's almost complete."  
  
"Good." Came an even deeper voice, belonging to the hedgehog. He turned to face the ring. "I told you that I'd be able to help you, doctor. Soon both our goals will be complete. You will have achieved the same goal that your grandfather achieved decades ago and have the chance to take over the world. And I." The hedgehog paused and reached behind him, and pulled out an object. Sonic and BoltStryke's eyes widened it twinkled and maximised in his hand. A green Chaos Emerald.  
  
The hedgehog twirled the jewel in his palm, looking as if he was clutching it tightly. "I will have the perfect ally to help me collect the Chaos Emeralds." He continued. "And once I do, we will both assimilate our Perfect forms. Nothing will be able to stop us then. Not even that infernal purple hedgehog."  
  
The fat human laughed. "And neither that pesky blue hedgehog, Sonic!" He added. He paced his way over towards the hedgehog, raising his right hand into the air enthusiastically. "We will crush them both, and all of their friends! And with the perfect alliance complete and the heroes out of the way-"  
  
"Our legacy can begin." The hedgehog interjected. He let the hand holding the Chaos Emerald drop to his side. The bigger, moustached man joined him around the ring.  
  
"It's Eggman." Sonic growled lowly. He stopped as soon as BoltStryke touched his arm, signalling for him to keep quiet.  
  
"Show me." The mysterious hedgehog commanded. "Reveal to me the efforts of both our works! The genes of Shadow and I, together as one!" He spun around slowly on the spot, raising his hand in the air, the Chaos Emerald glistening slightly from the light sources around the room. He gave a laugh as he tossed the emerald into the air, and caught it. As he did, the glint of the hedgehog's solid green, pupiless eyes caught the light. BoltStryke glowered. It was clear to him now who the mysterious hedgehog was. Dr. Eggman hesitated, but still reached for an object in his pocket all the same.  
  
"Demonis." BoltStryke said, lower than a whisper. Sonic, barely catching the purple hedgehog's words, swung his head in his direction for a split second, then raised his hand in a defensive stance, at once watching the scene beyond the grate.  
  
The hedgehog named Demonis laughed manically. "Show me. Oblivion!" Dr.Eggman fell silent. The object in his pocket was a remote. As soon as he had pulled it out, he pressed a button. Surely enough, the metallic segments inside the ring slid open, revealing a bright white light beneath the floor. In an instant, a cold mist rose from the floor, and the two figures in the room were illuminated. Every feature of them becoming apparent.  
  
Eggman looked the same as he usually did. Same massive bulk, the same steely blue glasses and the thick moustache, only his large pink nose visible through it. Only now he was wearing a white lab coat and his black boots. He looked serious and somewhat concerned.  
  
Smiling however, standing right next to the doctor was a grey hedgehog, clutching his green Chaos Emerald. His eyes weren't as normal, as they were green and had no pupils, and shone as brightly as the emerald he was holding. The edges of the whites of his eyes were dark and subdued. His middle set of spikes swept upward, save for the lowest spike, which swept downward as with the side sets of quills.  
  
Demonis smirked as the chamber that had just been opened whirred into life, and slowly but surely a large glass capsule was slowly raised through the hole in the floor. More mist surrounded it as it rose slowly. The liquid inside was pink, bubbling with life, with several tubes in it, all pointing to one source. There was something else in the tube. Something more. BoltStryke and Sonic's eyes widened in horror as they caught a glimpse of the capsule's contents. Demonis gave another cry of manic laughter.  
  
"I don't believe this!" Sonic whispered. "How the hell could this happen?" BoltStryke touched his arm again, and the blue hedgehog fell silent once more.  
  
Demonis, grinning evilly, walked over to Dr. Eggman and patted him hard on the back. "Hah! Look Eggman! With him and I together on your side, nothing can stop you! Think of everything you'll have! The world shall bend to the name Eggman!"  
  
BoltStryke's eyes widened as very, very slowly, Demonis' eyes turned towards the grate. He held his breath, as their eyes seemed to meet. The purple hedgehog remained a still as he could, watching a slow, dirty smirk creep across the grey hedgehog's face. BoltStryke shifted his glance at once to Sonic, who seemed to be busy glaring at the silent Eggman. Demonis turned away, and tossed the Emerald he was holding into the air once again, and swung his hand forward to catch it, spinning it on his finger before grasping it again in his palm.  
  
"And don't you worry." He turned towards the grate again "I shall make BoltStryke and Sonic pay for trying to defy you! Together we shall rule the world and destroy all who oppose us!" He turned away and laughed manically. Eggman suddenly seemed to loosen up, and as he stood staring at the creature in the capsule, he began laughing, low at first, but increasingly grew louder as Demonis' laughter echoed around the room.  
  
"Why have they gotten a hold of a military lab.?" Sonic murmured. He quickly turned to BoltStryke. "Bolt! We have to get back to the base and tell the rest of them what's going on!"  
  
"It looks like we won't be going anywhere, Sonic. You'd better be prepared for a party."  
  
Sonic jumped, frowning at BoltStryke. "What do you mean?"  
  
"He knows, Sonic." BoltStryke whispered back, curling both his hands into tight fists. "Demonis knows we're here." 


	3. Cutting It Fine

-Chapter Three-  
  
Cutting It Fine  
  
The purple hedgehog's glanced shifted from his evil grey rival to the creation in the capsule. It indeed looked powerful, but it was also incomplete. Due to the process, its legs were missing, and short stumps were in the place of where they were. The tubes and wires that fed through the tank pulsated with life, possibly feeding this creature vital energy, which it would need once it finally was complete. BoltStryke clenched his fists tighter, angry that the memory of Shadow had been marred by their evil genetic engineering. Demonis was pure evil- and this evil had been injected into the midnight blue figure, which lay lifeless in the tank. If he had anything to do with this, it was going to stop, and he was going to stop it very quickly.  
  
Demonis and the doctor's laughter died, Eggman aware that Demonis was staring at him in a manner which signalled him to stop. He cocked his head to the side.  
  
"What is it?" He growled, placing the remote back into his pocket.  
  
The grey hedgehog turned away from him, glancing at the grate behind the old table for a split second before turning to the doctor once again, who looked increasingly worried. Demonis minimised the green Chaos Emerald he was still holding, and placed the object within his quills. Dr. Eggman waited in silence as the hedgehog's smile crept into a very long smirk, raising both his hands to his face and placed his palms together, facing the capsule. He eyed the grate slowly, and gave a short laugh.  
  
"Let's just say." he began, interlocking each of his fingers until only his thumbs and index fingers were still placed together. He closed his eyes for a split second, and as he did, a short, blue streak of lightning streaked across his arms and made their way to the point of his index fingers, remaining there as a glittering blue ball, measuring no more than 3 centimetres in size. ".We have a couple of visitors who need taking care of."  
  
Sonic's eyes widened. "Is he. Going to.?" he hissed as quietly as he could, half-glancing in BoltStryke's direction.  
  
"Yes." He replied softly, placing his right foot forward. "But we're not going to get hit. We're both going to Spin dash on the count of three."  
  
Dr.Eggman's face lit up with half surprise, and half shock as more streaks of lightning continued to streak up the grey hedgehog's arms, pulsating before reaching the point of his fingers, the blue orb growing bigger and brighter. He let one hand drop to his side and clench into a fist, now able to swing the orb on the index finger of his right hand. Bringing it behind his head, he swung towards the direction of the grate, and fired the orb, the ball of concentrated electrical and chaotic energy blasting outwardly before stretching out into a thin beam.  
  
Just nanoseconds before the beam slammed into the grate with a massive force, two blurs burst the plating open, breaking away into opposite sides of the room. As the beam made impact, it broke through the room's wall, before denting and buckling the grate, the sheer heat part melting the metal and warping it beyond repair.  
  
Demonis glared at the gaping hole that his attack had created. The two hedgehogs spun to meet each other and broke from their curled stance, leaping into the air and landing neatly on the cold metallic floor. The old table and the grate, now broken and destroyed, crackled with the energy that Demonis' attack had given off, and then became smoking and silent. He turned his head at once, his emerald green eyes piercing into BoltStryke's glowering, golden ones.  
  
Demonis smiled. "Well, if it isn't the hedgehog duo! What a nice surprise!  
  
BoltStryke remained silent for a while, and then advanced forward, much to Sonic's surprise, however, he didn't try to stop him. "Of all the people I didn't expect to see again. But then again, you've not been that much of a rival over the years Demonis, ever since you disappeared from the Emerald Shrine." The purple hedgehog's eyes narrowed. "So I take it this is the beginning of the 'day of reckoning' you spoke of, huh?"  
  
"Exactly right." The grey hedgehog chortled. "Only time has made me realise that if I have allies by my side- valuable allies- I can make my day of reckoning so much more than what I had imagined it to be. With Eggman and Oblivion on my side, there's no way I can lose!" He clenched his right fist and punched the air directly in front of him enthusiastically. "But now that you've brought yourselves here, I can make destroying you two quick work, and your little friends will be easier for me."  
  
"Not if we can help it!" Sonic shouted, stepping forward too. "If it's anything to do with Eggman, we're bound to beat you! But what I don't get is why you're using a military laboratory."  
  
"Allow me to answer that." Eggman said quietly, stepping to Demonis' side. "After the ARK incident I took to finding a place that I could formulate a new plan, a plan to finally defeat you all. But before leaving I found some very useful documents aboard the ARK. I retrieved a hoard of blueprints marking out old laboratories and test sites that belonged to GUN, and had been abandoned many decades ago. I decided to choose this one as it's the perfect place to perform my experiments- There's plenty of Chaos Ore to keep my machines running, and it's depths beneath the ground above made it perfect for me to go about my business for months without being detected at all!" He raised his hand to his mouth and smiled. "After many days locating the Chaos Emeralds, Demonis came to me. Having already found a Chaos Emerald, he offered to help me find the rest. It was only a matter of time before I showed him my plans to create my own Ultimate Lifeform. Using the gene samples that I found in the ARK's cryogenics centre and from Demonis offering his most powerful genes, we were able to create Oblivion! Now with Demonis being born from the pure evil that had been absorbed in the grey Chaos Emerald and Shadow's gene pool, he should be indestructible!"  
  
"Hah!" BoltStryke spat, swinging his right hand across him and then back once again. "Well I would see if this creature lives up to your expectations, but I won't allow this to happen, and I won't allow you to get away with this, Demonis!" He clenched both his fists tightly and advanced forward again. "As the hedgehog born from the Master Emerald, it's not going to happen!"  
  
"Enough talk!" Demonis growled, glowering at the purple hedgehog opposite him. In an instant, he leapt back, tensing his fingers of his right hand as familiar streaks of lightning at once shot up his arm, only this time at a quickened pace, melding together at a point in the middle of his palm. This orb was bigger, and it looked more dangerous. As smaller orbs of light glittered and sparked off this amazing blue and white orb, crackling with lightning, Demonis landed, and thrust the palm with the orb contained within forward. BoltStryke and Sonic both took on defensive stances, watching the evil grey hedgehog's solid green eyes sparkle with hints of blue, glowering at the pair of them. "I'll destroy you both here and now!" he yelled. "And the bulk of my troubles will be over!"  
  
The purple hedgehog suddenly leapt into action, as he slid his left foot forward, he twisted his body across to the right, bring his left hand across also, tightening his fingers and kept the palm open as he did so. Lowering his head, he brought his right hand across so that its palm faced his left one. Keeping his weight more on his left foot rather than on his right, he closed his eyes for a split second, and in an instant, a bright flash of white light burst from the very centre of his palms, and at once swirled inward, hints of fuchsia-coloured light and energy pulling the light together to form an orb in between his palms. As this happened, short yellow streaks of lightning shot from the Bolt gems on his hands and up both of his arms, and across his hands to form part of the ball. The now fuchsia and white orb was now encased in an aura of yellow electric sparks, which crackled loudly. The sharp, intense look on Demonis' face seemed to let up slightly at seeing this. "Trust me." BoltStryke growled. "Whatever you can throw at me, I can do one better."  
  
Dr. Eggman broke in at once. "Stop! The pair of you!" Demonis never shifted his gaze to even glimpse at the doctor. "What?"  
  
"There's a lot of volatile equipment in this lab. If you two unleash any attacks like that, you'll destroy us all, for sure!"  
  
Demonis seemed to hesitate for a few seconds, still watching BoltStryke intensely. ".Hmm. very well." He released the stiffness in his fingers, the orb disappearing in an abrupt flash of white light. In a split second, a smirk came to Demonis' face, and he disappeared from his standing spot in a split second, rushing towards BoltStryke.  
  
"Chaos Blast!" The purple hedgehog yelled, thrusting the orb he was holding forward in a burst of incredible speed. He quickly brought his hands up to shield his face as the orb instantly exploded, throwing the advancing grey hedgehog back the way he came from. As he hit the ground, the slightly charred hedgehog rolled twice, and a glittering object fell away, rolling away to the very end of the room. As it sparkled and rolled, it maximised to its full size. Sonic's eyes widened, and in an instant he rushed across to room to retrieve the fallen Emerald.  
  
Demonis instantly realised the Emerald he was holding was missing, and leapt to his feet the instant that Sonic darted off to retrieve it. He growled and fired a short Chaos Blast in Sonic's direction, who then took off in a sudden burst of speed and dived for the Emerald. As his hands gripped the green gem, he curled himself into a ball and somersaulted just as the blast made impact on the floor behind him. BoltStryke gave a brief smile as he unshielded his face. Though his gloves were slightly singed by his own attack, he was fine. His expression again fell into a serious one as he heard the grey hedgehog growl loudly and throw his hand behind his head once again, preparing another Chaos Blast. Rushing forward in a burst of speed, he called to Sonic. "Use the Chaos Emerald! Get out of here!"  
  
Breaking from his somersault, Sonic looked over at BoltStryke, however remaining cautious of Demonis about to attack. "What the hell do you mean get out of here? What about you?" he called over, jumping just in time as Demonis thrust his hand forward, sending the orb his way. It slammed into the ground at full speed, throwing up huge shards of metal plating, but not causing any more damage than that. "Come on, Sonic! Nothing's gonna happen to me! I'll tackle that bastard and I'll be with you shortly. Just go!"  
  
After a slight sigh, Sonic leapt into the air, clutching the Chaos Emerald tightly. It glittered intensely as he concentrated his energies into it. A green flash instantly burst from it. He swung round in the air twice, as the light around him intensified. "Chaos Control!" The blue hedgehog yelled, and in a flash of green and white light, Sonic was gone.  
  
The grey hedgehog stopped in his tracks and turned to glower at BoltStryke, who crossed his arms and smiled. By this time, Dr.Eggman had backed away into the far corner of the room, to ensure that he didn't get hit by any of the attacks that were flying around.  
  
"You fool!" He shouted, glaring at BoltStryke, his crystalline green eyes slowly turning into a deep red. "How dare you steal my emerald!"  
  
"Just a taste of things to come, Demonis." The purple hedgehog called back. "The emeralds will never be yours, and I'll never let you take over, however hard you try."  
  
Completely enraged, the grey hedgehog thrust his hands forward, and in an instant, a red aura burst around him, scorching through the metallic floor plating and causing that to glow an intense orange hue. A red orb began to form between his open palms at an alarming rate. Dr.Eggman jumped, and began to advance towards Demonis, quite sure at the result of what was about to happen.  
  
"No! Demonis! Stop!" He screamed, wanting to shake the hedgehog, but the aura was too hot, and it was much too late. "Chaos Beam!" Demonis screamed, and at once the whole room became filled with a rich, blinding red light. Another white flash came from across the room as the orb rumbled towards BoltStryke's end.  
  
And for miles around the canyons and sandy valleys, the ground shook and rumbled as a violent explosion rocked the area. A thick red aura burst through the ground and illuminated the sky with a fiery light, smoke and thick ash billowing through the clear day air.  
  
Back upon the main island, Mika screamed and leapt from her seat. Holding the middle of her forehead as it seared with a deep heat. The same fiery scene that she had dreamed before appeared before her eyes in a flash, and disappeared as quick as it had arrived. She lay back on her bed in a cold sweat, staring up at the ceiling, hoping that whatever that was out there would stop, and soon.  
  
The bright morning sky became bathed in a deep crimson light, tons of smoke and dust blocking the suns rays from reaching the canyon for miles around. As the canyon recovered from the massive shockwave that had ripped through it, the rock that had been violently thrown into the air rained down once again as small, fast-moving pebbles and debris. Chunks of metal flew down from the heavens and slammed into some of the softer parts of the rock, splitting open hunks of the canyon, causing that to rain down also.  
  
Pebbles and stones battered the tallest cliffs, which lined the Eastern side of the canyon. A large chunk of it, loosened by the rumbling that had occurred just a few seconds ago, caused a hunk of it to fall off, causing it to tumble down the valley, and smash into a thousand pieces upon the blade-like edges of jagged rock which lay beneath. As the brunt of the damage was beginning to clear, sirens filled the air, intercepted by the purr of a motorcycle's motor, which smoothly slid to a halt on the edge of the canyon wall, trickles of sand and dust skittering down the edge of the cliff's face; It's thick wheels laden with its deep, complex tracks looked as if they could handle the rough terrain that these plains offered, and also looked fairly new. Each wheel was supported by ample suspension, it's huge springs gleaming silver and red in the light of the explosion. The main body of the cycle was aerodynamic, black and smooth, it's main, large headlight filtered a soft blue; three rocket engines, adorned the back of the cycle, one embedded at the back in the very center of the cycle, and two, smaller ones on either side, placed at the bottom of the cycle. Even the smaller ones looked as if they would provide ample thrusting power for the cycle, each having ventilation slots in case either of the boosters temperature rose to the point of overheating and explosion.  
  
As the wheels slowly came to a halt and the purr of the engine had been silenced, the rider placed a boot to the floor, in order to support the stationary cycle underneath. The pink moulded heart, which formed the tip of the white, knee-high boots became sightly encrusted with dirt as she dug the toe of her boot more firmly into the ground. Having now sustained her balance, she gently tilted her green tinted shades down her nose into order for her jade eyes to watch the scene before her. Giving a slight sigh of dismay, she turned her attention back towards the cycle once again, and skimmed her eyes over the array of dials and switches before her on the dashboard, trying to locate the right one. On finding the radio dial, she gave it a quick twist with her elbow-length gloved hands, her large ears pricking up intently as the radio crackled and buzzed wildly, trying to locate a signal as the smoke and dust began to clear. After a slight humming, a voice blurted out a couple of words that she couldn't quite make out, followed by the familiar sound of white noise yet again. Impatiently, her fingers reached to tap a few incandescent blue buttons directly next to the dial, hoping that her efforts would work. Soon enough, the voices came again, the feint buzzing of a helicopter heard between each voice.  
  
"Finally." She sighed, leaning in close to listen to the voices that she had tuned into.  
  
"This is Foxtrot Delta Fifteen. We have located the position of the explosion, and have found its epicentre to be coming from the twenty- seventh sector of the old underground research bases, over."  
  
A three second silence. She waited intently, licking her lips in anticipation, hoping that they hadn't had already picked up on her signal, whilst in her mind, not believing that even in these times, the military were still using analogue radios. She thought it primitive.  
  
"This is Control tower. We read your position and we see that it is not yet clear for you to land in the desired area. We are sending sufficient troops to the area by land in the meantime, over."  
  
"Roger. Our heat sensors detect an alleged suspect fleeing the actual scene at this moment. Its current speed being two hundred and twenty seven miles per hour, over."  
  
She raised her eyebrows. She only knew of three people who were capable of moving so fast.  
  
"I didn't copy that. Did you say two hundred and twenty seven miles per hour, over?"  
  
"Two hundred and twenty seven and rising, sir. Heading in an north-westerly direction, over."  
  
There was a long pause, the girl grew more curious. She jumped slightly as the man that spoke from control tower coughed, clearing his throat, and swallowed before speaking again.  
  
"The radar reads that the area in question is clear for you to land. The only person on our files that matches such a speed is none other than Sonic the Hedgehog. We will send sufficient troops in order to apprehend the suspect and bring him in for questioning. If you find anyone in the vicinities of the accident site, arrest them at once or use appropriate force."  
  
The girl's eyes widened, turning the key in the ignition to turn her engine on at once, however she remained glued to the conversation.  
  
"Copy that. Now proceeding to accident site. Over and out."  
  
Gently pushing her sunglasses back into their correct position, she got herself ready to depart. "I can't believe this! Why would Sonic blow up an old military facility." She trailed off, remaining thoughtful. "There has to be more to this. I better try and catch up to Sonic quickly, before the military does." As she got ready to place her supporting foot back onto her pedal, a flashing dial on her dashboard instantly came to her attention, it's green glow reflecting back into her eyes. They widened further. She couldn't believe what she was seeing, as she hadn't seen it active in months.  
  
A Chaos reading.  
  
* * * * * * * * *  
  
"Oh bloody-diddly hell!" Charmy exclaimed as he stared in horror at the monitors before his eyes that he had been sent to watch for a second. "Tails!"  
  
The orange fox came rushing in at once, looking increasingly worried as he watched the tiny bee clasp his hands over his wide eyes, and his clear wings began to flutter nervously. Pushing the computer chair that Charmy was sitting on clear out of the way, Tails himself stared in horror, with his mouth gaping wide open and the scenes before him. At once, he rushed to the edge of the monitors, twisting the radio dial to the correct frequency. Grabbing the microphone, which stood neatly nearby in its own stand, the fox began frantically talking into it.  
  
"Sonic! Sonic! Can you hear me, over?" He yelled, gripping onto the microphone harder then it was necessary, but he couldn't help it, neither was he aware of how tightly he was holding on it.  
  
A long pause followed. Tails became more frantic. Swallowing heavily in order to clear the dryness in his throat, he shakily raised the microphone to his mouth in order to speak again. As he did so, the speakers nearby crackled and spluttered into life, and the orange fox gave a large sigh of relief.  
  
"Hey Tails! Geesh, no need to panic! I'm out okay! And I managed to get a Chaos Emerald out of it, too!"  
  
Tails smiled, glad that his friend had gotten out unscathed. "And what about BoltStryke? Is he with you?"  
  
Sonic hesitated. "Er. No. He told me to grab the Chaos Emerald and use it to get out. I'm pretty sure that he's just fine." Sonic paused a second, and the radio crackled, as it seemed to lose signal. "I'm telling you Tails, Eggman's planning something pretty serious! He's created an Ultimate Lifeform of his own by teaming up with another evil hedgehog dude! I sure hope that the explosion killed whatever it was, because if that thing gets out, we're for it."  
  
Tails' gaze didn't seem to fix upon anything within those few seconds. Charmy watched him anxiously. Espio, Amy and Mighty, who had popped their heads around the door for a couple of seconds in order to find out what had been going on had now become fixated on the conversation that was happening. "An. Ultimate Lifeform.?" He finally spat.  
  
"Yup." Sonic replied surly. "Another hedgehog too! I've never seen anything like it! Hey, I'll inform you guys fully when I get there. I'm pretty close to base now. Try and check up on BoltStryke form me, and see if he got out okay. Catchya later!" And with that, Sonic's radio became a field of white noise.  
  
Leaping out of the computer chair at once, Charmy pushed the chair (despite the fact that it was nearly twice his size) and managed to get it just underneath the two-tailed fox as he sighed and slumped into it. The others remained silent, not knowing what to say, or where to look.  
  
Lost, Amy finally spoke. "You don't think he means another Shadow do you? Or something worse?" She asked worriedly, looking in the direction of Tails, who currently seemed miles away.  
  
"I don't know Amy." He replied after a long sigh and a pause. "But from the sounds of things, this is worse than Shadow."  
  
* * * * * * * * *  
  
The radar's green flash pulsated faster, glowing from it's bright green to amber, flashing faster still. Her eyes still widened in surprise, she leaned closer still to the radar, it's amber flash moving from it's amber to a bright red, pulsating faster than ever now. Tapping the radar to ensure that it was working, she gave a blink, cocking her head to one side.  
  
"Wow. This is a pretty strong reading. But whatever it is, it is very close- "  
  
The girl let out a startled scream, nearly leaping off her motorcycle as a flash of bright green light appeared before her, smaller orbs of yellowish green and white bursting forth from the very center of it, glittering and sparkling more intensely and grew wider in diameter with each passing second. As the aura that appeared crackled and frazzled loudly, its creator burst from it at a tremendous speed. As he skidded to a halt on the rocky ground, the aura of Chaos Control disappeared into thin air. Catching her breath, the girl glanced over to the right, where the form had appeared from nowhere. He radar had now fallen silent.  
  
"BoltStryke! You gave me a such a scare." She growled, lowering her shades once again.  
  
"Hello to you too, Rouge." BoltStryke replied, smirking, rubbing some of the ash out of his fringe of quills. "Long time no see, huh?"  
  
"Indeed so." She said, trailing off to give him a smile as he walked towards her. Her smile faded at once as she remembered what she had heard just moments ago. "I'd like to catch up on the past with you, but we have to do that some other time. I'm afraid that I have some bad news to give to you."  
  
BoltStryke raised his head towards the heavens, giving a loud sigh as he brushed his right hand through his hair quickly. "Gee! Nobody ever has an ounce of good news to give me these days! What's the problem?"  
  
"I'm instantly assuming that you two hedgehogs had something to do with that blast up ahead, and clearly Chaos Controlled your separate ways or something, it's just that I picked up a radio signal between the military's Control Tower and a nearby helicopter, and it appears that they know Sonic's exact movements. They've sent troops in Sonic's direction, intent on catching him!"  
  
BoltStryke's serious face fell even further as he heard these words. Frowning furiously, he at once turned to the radio strapped to his wrist, flicking the switch onto the on position. However, no white noise came from it to signify that it was working. He tapped it furiously, and gave a sigh as it became apparent that the radio no longer functioned.  
  
"For the love of." The purple hedgehog at once stopped himself and gave a sigh. He turned towards the smoking canyon, and the helicopter buzzing overhead, preparing to land. After a few moments watching he turned to the white bat at his side, and shrugged his shoulders. Rouge returned his shrug with a worried look.  
  
"Are you about to say what I think you're about to say?" She asked with a sigh, lowering her powdered blue eyelids.  
  
"I'm afraid so, Rouge my girl. And I may need your help." BoltStryke replied fairly brightly, though false, raising his eyebrows a little. "If Sonic's going to get out of this mess, we're going to have to get him out ourselves." 


End file.
